Episode 6 - Legacy and Revival

Show Notes

The conclusion to our series on the life and legacy of Henry Schmulbach.

What is Henry - The life and legacy of Wheeling’s most notorious brewer?

In Victorian-era Wheeling, West Virginia, a German-American brewer and entrepreneur would create a lasting impact that is still felt in the community today. From immigration to politics, industrialization to crime, take a step back in time as we look at Wheeling through the lens of Henry Schmulbach’s life. Brought to you by Wheeling Heritage Media and hosted by William Hal Gorby.

For more podcasts by Wheeling Heritage Media: https://weelunk.com/multimedia/podcasts/

Ryan Stanton:
He had a progressive mind, not for just himself, but for the city of Wheeling. I truly believe he wanted this town to be successful, not just for himself, but, uh, in general.

*music*

Jake Daugherty:
It's poetic that he dies, you know, at the, nearly the same time as West Virginia passes prohibition. Right. You know that his, the timing around his life is, you can't make this stuff up. I don't think. And, and I think it's important. I think his legacy is so important because he, he is, he's colorful as a person, but also, he represents a very important time in Wheeling's history. And as an immigrant, an entrepreneur, an investor, a builder, uh, he, he really does kind of demonstrate what being, being an industrialist in Wheeling was like, you know, his story is not, his story is unique, but it's not rare in Wheeling.

Hal Gorby:
As Jake Daugherty, outgoing executive director of Wheeling Heritage noted Henry Schmulbach's life and legacy has been so vital to Wheeling's culture over the years. When Henry died on August 13th, 1915, he left the stage so to speak at an appropriate time. With larger social and political forces about to alter Wheeling, he left a larger-than-life legacy. But how can we best understand what he has meant to Wheeling? He has left a number of historic properties and structures and many stories of his exploits. His life has entered Wheeling's folklore, not unlike stories of the frontier period, but how has Henry Schmulbach's life and legacy set the tone for recent efforts to revitalize Wheeling's economy? With the decline of many of its major industries, Wheeling and its residents have worked to reinvent themselves. Just as Henry Schmulbach forged ahead, so are the city's current small business centers.

Hal Gorby:
Now these business centers are occupying once vacant, historic buildings, buildings that industrialists like Henry Schmulbach built over a century ago. This is Henry the life and legacy of Wheeling's most notorious brewer, a production of Wheeling heritage media. I am your host, William Hal Gorby, a teaching assistant professor of history at West Virginia university, whose research is focused on West Virginia and Wheeling's working class and immigrant history during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of Henry's legacy was apparent immediately upon his death in 1915, which we heard about in our last episode. A wealthy man, Schmulbach left a lot of wealth and property behind. Jeanne Finstein, who we previously heard from, showed me Henry Schmulbach's will. From it, we learn about a longstanding rumor regarding people who named their children Henry Schmulbach.

Jeanne Finstein:
Just as we have researched various houses and, and, and other people and so forth in obituaries or death records, we have found at least four men whose names were Henry Schmulbach something. And we always wondered, perhaps were these illegitimate children or something else. And then I talked to someone whose grandfather had been a driver for Henry Schmulbach. And the grandfather had told this friend that he had been offered an education or remembrance in the will or whatever if this person would name their son Henry Schmulbach after him. And if you look at Henry Schmulbach's will he names several people whose first two names were Henry Schmulbach. Wow. Of course, he didn't have any legitimate children. So perhaps this was a way of extending his legacy.
Hal Gorby:
Hmm, sure. And it's kind of like a lot of things with him, you know, it's this sort of duality, you know, it, there's that element, but then there's also the people who would say, well are these actually his children and he's trying to keep them in his will. We don't know. Right. And that's part of the mystery.

Jeanne Finstein:
It is part of the mystery, but I kind of like this other story. I do too. It, it makes sense. Here's a guy who obviously had an ego and I can see that he would want his name to live on. Sure. He is leaving $10,000 each to, among other people, my namesake, Henry S Schaefer of Wheeling. Okay. My namesake. He also left $2,000 to his namesakes Henry S Boyce, Henry S Barth and Henry S Hoffrider. All of the city of Wheeling.

Hal Gorby:
The will itself also reveals a lot about Henry's life and priorities.

Jeanne Finstein:
If any beneficiary under this will shall attempt to contest the validity of the will or of any of its provisions. The provision here in made for such contestants shall immediately become void. And the portion of my estate here in before given to such contestant shall be paid to the Ohio valley general hospital association and to the Wheeling hospital. But I believe that the will was contested. I have some other documents here.

Hal Gorby:
That maybe suggest that it was.

Jeanne Finstein:
So, if you want to, if you want to borrow this and, and take a look. He left, of course, of course, the bulk of his estate to his wife. And then I guess she used a lot of it to travel. She had no children. Um.

Hal Gorby:
Yeah, and as Ryan told us at Roney's point, the mansion that was built out there, she, at some point in the not-too-distant future, uh, sold it to the county.

Jeanne Finstein:
Okay. Yeah. She sold it off. Right. He also left money to the, the German Zion evangelical Lutheran church. That would be what's Towngate now. St. James German evangelical Lutheran church, Saint Stephanus Stefanis German evangelical reformed church, St. John's German evangelical Protestant church and St. Paul's German independent evangelical Protestant church, also St. Alphonsus German Catholic church.

Hal Gorby:
And we should note that that's very interesting considering that he was always very supportive of the German culture here in Wheeling. And I think fittingly, fittingly as well, you know, he's leaving, uh, the, the scene, uh, right at the time of world war one, when in a few years, you know, there's those names of German and most of those churches is going to be removed.
Jeanne Finstein:
Right, during the war, right. During the war. That was not a good thing to have in your name.

Hal Gorby:
So that's kind of interesting that he's picked all those German churches to provide some of his wealth to after he's gone. And then you said that he gave to the two hospitals.

Jeanne Finstein:
Yes. He also remembered a woman by the name of Bertha Yeager in gratitude for her services to my sister, Mary now deceased, left $5,000, which would be a good bit of money. Might have been caretaking. That's the impression that I would get that it, um, that it would be for perhaps taking care of her in her final years.

Hal Gorby:
Hmm. The will is only three pages, which is fascinating for such a wealthy man. It's been claimed that Schmulbach had made four separate wills during his life, but his wife, Eva could only find the most recent one. That will left the majority of the estate to her.

Jeanne Finstein:
Yeah, here we have Miss Anna Mary Fellers of St. Mary's who contested the will. Don't know.

Hal Gorby:
Why would they have contested the will? That's what I don't understand. I don't know, but they should, she was granted something in the will, but then she contested.

Jeanne Finstein:
Or she was not granted something. Yes. And they had hearings and Mrs. Schmulbach was called dressed in deep mourning. Her face was covered with a heavy black veil.

Hal Gorby:
Like many things with Henry's life his earlier wills remain a mystery. Henry left money, of course, but also physical monuments for the city of Wheeling. His skyscraper in downtown Wheeling is one visible marker. His chaplain street row house is another. However, not every element of his legacy has lasted the test of time. Case in point - his Roney's point mansion. As we learned from Ryan Stanton, the site was grand at one time, but went through multiple levels of reuse and decline after his death. Henry's wife sold the property to Ohio county who turned it into a poor farm, later a tuberculosis hospital, then a state mental hospital. I spoke with Ryan on the site about its decay.

Ryan Stanton:
The mental hospital would only be there for about eight or 10 years. Um, it was very poorly managed. Um, was it an insane asylum? Was it a mental hospital? What do you call it? Um, from my understanding, it was kind of, sort of like a halfway house. Um, if you were at Weston state hospital and you were progressing, uh, there's a possibility that you would be sent to Roney's point, you progress more, eventually you, you, you know, you could be released. With that said it was the sixties and with what they knew about mental health and how they were treating people it definitely wasn't, it definitely
wasn't a pleasant place, uh, to stay. And we've talked about how this is sort of a creepy, eerie area. You have an abandoned mansion and you have a, the mental hospital out the road. Residents complained about the mental hospital because patients, you know, would escape, be seen hitchhiking, um, on national road.

Ryan Stanton:
And it just, you know, it wasn't something that residents wanted in this area, but with mismanagement and everything, uh, by the early 1970s, this whole property is pretty much abandoned. Uh, you have a lot of buildings here that aren't being used. And so, um, what would happen in 1972 is a lot of the structures that were, uh, on the property were actually used by the valley Grove and Triadelphia volunteer fire departments for training. And so, they actually burned them down as a training process. Um, and so what you were basically left with was just the mental hospital and the mansion and the addition for the TB hospital and a few other random structures, but anything that could burn up was pretty much taken care of at that point. And so, again, as you can imagine, um, during that era, you have all this abandoned stuff out here in the middle of nowhere.

Ryan Stanton:
It became a big place for kids to go, okay. Uh, in the seventies. And so, in 1975, in October of 1975, there was a quote accidental fire that was probably started by college students. Um, they, they came up here one evening, you know, for a thrill in October. And, uh, that's like, what we see today is basically the results of that fire in 1975. Hmm. Yeah. There's nothing normal about this property.

Hal Gorby:
And I would recommend you, if you come up here, you come up here during the day light at a time when, you know, you can see a little bit more without the tree growth, but yeah, at night this would be a very eerie sort of location.

Hal Gorby:
While we can't go taste one of Henry Schmulbach's brews today, one element of his legacy is being felt in Wheeling and across the state with the revival of small craft breweries. In many ways, this is a period similar to Henry's rise. Small entrepreneurs starting out on the ground floor, making their mark. Traveling to center market today, you can stop by a variety of small shops. Later Gator restaurant, located in a former saloon, is one popular site. Further south around the lower market house you can stop in market vines and Wheeling brewing company among others to get a cool drink and food. Across from Coleman's fish market, you can also visit Brew Keepers' new taproom. I stopped by to talk with owner, Kevin Ayers about the craft brewing revival in Wheeling.

Kevin Ayers:
So, this is our current location at 2245 market. At one time um, this was a three-story building it's been, uh, altered a bit. Uh, we've been told it's been a car dealership, a firehouse. We definitely know it's a firehouse because we have some fire doors in the location. Most recently though it was actually a house it's, it's a really cool location. Uh, we love it cause of the open brick, uh, the open kind of floor plan design, um, yet it still feels homey. And, um, so we're remodeling that and trying to keep more of, uh, sort of the Wheeling industrial type feel, uh, most breweries and bars you go into there's a lot of wooden, and, uh, chalkboards. Uh, so we've kept everything very gray to our, our logo, um, and very
metal, uh, and that kind of thing. So, we want it to be more industrial looking, concrete brick, you know, um, cause we're a blue-collar brewery. I mean, that's, that's who we are. So,

Hal Gorby:
And that's, it's appropriate for this area of Wheeling that is known for its sort of working-class gritty sort of blue-collar area.

Kevin Ayers:
Exactly, exactly. And hence our slogan of simple craft beer, uh, which goes into the history. You know, a lot of the breweries are, you know, we had what, eight breweries at one time in Wheeling. And, uh, they were all very successful up to the prohibition era, but they were just making beer, you know, and, and it wasn't all this craft beer per se kind of thing. So simple craft beer came about because we wanted to make simple beers that blue collar beers, that people would be like, oh, okay, I can drink craft beer, quote unquote. But, uh, you know, but it's, it's, it's like a light beer or whatever. So now they're excited because they, oh, we can drink a craft beer and it's made locally, you know, and they feel, they feel kind of in on the crowd. And that's been our biggest sellers because of that.

Hal Gorby:
The craft beer revival has the possibility of revitalizing older industrial communities like Wheeling. But as Kevin notes, Wheeling and West Virginia faced some challenges in jump-starting the industry.

Kevin Ayers:
You go into some of the other states, uh, you know, let's, let's go in the tri-state area. So, you go to Pennsylvania, you know, you have the Pittsburgh area, they're huge. Um, now you have to travel quite a bit to get over to the Harrisburg area or, you know, the Philadelphia area. It's something like that, but still, it still sets, uh, you know, uh, Pennsylvania on the map, uh, Ohio with the three Cs, you know, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. I mean, you go to those places and there's just massive amounts of breweries and they're still opening just like we are. Um, but it always seems like West Virginia and, and I'll even go as far as saying the Northern panhandle, because I always feel like, um, the Northern panhandle gets left out and that goes as far as like even, uh, news about brewing that's, that's being publicized. Um, and, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing or I'm, I'm blaming or placing fault or whatever. It's just, I think that being in that 12 mile stretch between Pennsylvania and Ohio is a unique kind of place, climate, you know, social climate. Um, so I think it's, it's, you know, it's difficult that, that it hasn't happened here yet.

Hal Gorby:
Kevin is right. Wheeling's smaller population is a hurdle, but things have started to improve. There is a new vibe. Wheeling is a tourist destination for those visiting its historic downtown, traveling to Oglebay park and attending festivals at heritage port.

Kevin Ayers:
I think one of the big things that you haven't seen in this town for so long was the survival of a restaurant that has opened. Um, and finally that middle age type crowd, the 30- to 50-year-old, uh, crowd that is starting to see some, some property turnover and money turnover are starting to open restaurants. And, uh, there's more activity downtown first Fridays, third Fridays, waterfront Wednesdays, uh, you know, if you can't find something to do in this town, um, you know, on any given weekend or, or even a couple of
times during the week in the summertime, it's ridiculous. Because I often ask myself, like, why did they schedule that? They know that like these three other things are going on right next door, but people show up. Yeah. So that means that people are wanting to get out. They're wanting to be downtown.
They're wanting to be, you know, in the different areas of Wheeling. So, I think that, uh, I think downtown is in a huge, huge upswing, and we're only, we're only scratching the surface right now.

Hal Gorby:
Kevin notes how this new vibe in Wheeling will help spur the development of other businesses too.

Kevin Ayers:
What we're trying to do is create what they call the hotel or a gas station effect. You know, you put a Sheetz on one corner and next thing you know, there's another gas station opens up on another corner or hotel wise. They're all right in the same location. Why? Because that's where people are gonna end up staying or buying or whatever. Um, we're trying to create a district, uh, with market vines being done next door to Wheeling brewing company and the wine shop down the street and the restaurants in the market like people now are like, you go out here, like, especially like days like today, beautiful 70-degree day, sunny out, comfortable. There's a ton of people walking around and that's what Center Market's all about.

Hal Gorby:
This podcast is brought to you by Clientele Art Studio, an art gallery and studio space in East Wheeling. From art shows to concerts, Clientele has event space as well as multiple studios for rent. Learn more at clientelestudio.com. Policy changes at the state level have also helped spur this craft brewing revival.
Legislation now allows breweries to provide samples, give tours if they operate a distillery, adopt a sliding scale for license fees and sell growlers. While prohibitionists might roll over in their grave now, the growler pail allows thirsty customers to take some beer home with them. Remember Henry Schmulbach did advertise his beer as the beer of the home.

Speaker 8:
Good evening. Welcome to the Francis Pierpint historic brew off - prohibition edition.

Hal Gorby:
To commemorate and celebrate this revival the period around mid-August has become known statewide as craft beer week. Events are held around the state, including the Mountaineer Brewfest at heritage port. This year as well, craft brewers got to sell their product to customers as part of the Francis Pierpints historic brew off, the prohibition edition, held at river city Aleworks.

Speaker 8:
Good evening, everybody. Thanks for coming out tonight. I'm Henry Schmulbach and, uh, while you were over there sampling some of Wheeling's fine beers, you may have noticed my photograph over there and I looked a little different in that photograph.

Hal Gorby:
Patrons got to sample craft brews, socialize downtown and see a dramatic production on Wheeling's brewing and production history. They may have seen Mr. Schmulbach and Mr. Reymann hanging around
as well and even arm wrestling with me dressed as Reymann and Ryan Stanton as Schmulbach. Of course.

Speaker 8:
The owner of Reymann brewing company with 150,000 barrels of beer per year. Everybody loves Reymann. The Manchester mauler, Anton Reymann.

Hal Gorby:
Prohibition is what really set the city of Wheeling on this downward trajectory that it had. What ended up happening was a city that was so focused on this mass diversified business. What happens in the response of the twenties and thirties, the consolidation of capital around one industry, Wheeling Steel. And while that was great, and we are here in this building, the response to dealing with that period, the Victorian era was to focus on the industry that had the most reach, the most factories, the most employees, and that sort of transitioned Wheeling into this new era. With the downside of, if you're focused just on one industry, when that industry declines, then that's going to have a much, a much bigger problem.

Hal Gorby:
As downtown revitalization continues in Wheeling, one key aspect that continues to set the city apart is its impressive architecture. From Victorian era homes to stunning commercial structures, locals always remind visitors to look up at the ornate architecture around them. But what if Wheeling's residents didn't choose to preserve its historic homes and factories? What would the city look like today? Various individuals, civic organizations, and nonprofits have played a major role in preserving the city's past and adapting sites for re-use by individuals and businesses. As Wheeling went through the late 20th century, its population began to decline with the loss of steel and other manufacturing jobs. Homes in many neighborhoods went vacant and old well-established businesses closed their doors. By the 1980s and 1990s, efforts grew to use historic preservation to stimulate economic development. If you've visited downtown Wheeling, chances are you've seen a show at the historic capital theater, enjoyed a concert and riverfront views at heritage port, or perused locally made products at the artisan center.

Hal Gorby:
These projects focused on historic preservation and readapting the waterfront, all in an effort to spur revitalization. And they wouldn't have happened without many visionaries, non-profits and community members all coming together. One of those organizations is Wheeling Heritage. Celebrating its 25th year, Wheeling Heritage has expanded its reach in fostering a variety of public private partnerships seeking to quote, "revitalize Wheeling through preservation" end quote. One of the principle goals has been of course, preserving and telling Wheeling's story. This podcast on Henry Schmulbach's life and legacy is one innovative way to do that. These efforts have paid huge dividends for the city's rebirth. Wheeling heritage's projects focus on four key areas, historic preservation, arts and culture, downtown development, and providing grants and investments. Jake Daugherty has worked to continue Wheeling heritage's legacy. Serving from 2016 to 2019 as its executive director, Jake spoke with me about the organization's goals and projects undertaken in recent years.

Jake Daugherty:
From the perspective of Wheeling heritage, you know, we seek to tell Wheeling's story, uh, and preserve its historic properties, um, and to bring vibrancy to our community. You know, I, cause I, I've seen around
the country, communities that think that they can preserve buildings by being retroactive, by being reactionary, they can say, oh wait, I'm going to stand in front of the wrecking ball and make sure that this historic property doesn't get demolished. That's not good for preservationists and it's not very effective. The best thing that we can do is be proactive and fill these buildings with uses, make them meet the community's needs. And if we can do that, then we're going to be far more effective in preserving our historic sites.

Hal Gorby:
Jake sees these efforts in helping stimulate downtown Wheeling's redevelopment.

Jake Daugherty:
We've seen a decrease in vacancy in our downtown from 32% to 15 in three years with only two demolitions in the, in the, in the city. That's, that's pretty good. You know, we still have a long way to go, but it's really, it's the right direction. You know, you know, I also think about good mansion wines here in east Wheeling, you know, Dominic Serone used this historic mansion that he bought at a really good deal. And now it's a very, very vibrant destination retail store, uh, and eatery in our community. Those are cool things to see. Um, you know, it's the same thing, you know, there's a long list. The Capitol theater, from a public use perspective, you know, it was black unused for a couple of years or, and it got rehabbed because it could be used again. If it couldn't, if it wasn't going to be used, it wasn't going to be rehabbed. You know, I think the Wheeling stamping building where Orrick is that those, those properties were as bad as it gets. Um, you know, there's no building in Wheeling today that's in as bad as shape as it was when it was rehabbed. And now look at it, you know, it's a, it's a major employer in our downtown. So, I think that there are examples of uses leading the way in historic preservation, um, all over Wheeling.

Hal Gorby:
And, and with many of those examples they serve as the anchors in many of these historic neighborhoods to then do the additional level of preservation to say, there are some of these structures nearby that are going to be purely residential if they are to be preserved and saved. Well, someone's not going to make that purchase, make that investment if there's nothing within walking distance of value to them or part of their lifestyle.

Jake Daugherty:
Yeah, I think it's a really, you know, it's, it's a great cycle to get into. If you, if you can foster the investments into some of these anchor institutions or into a couple seemingly minor, uh, institutions or, or sites, they can really spin off a lot of great things. And, you know, I, you know, thought precedes action. So, when people think that something can happen, it's far more likely to happen than when they don't think it can happen. So, you know, I think our work at Wheeling heritage is about creating the sense that things can happen. And not only that, but you or anybody else who wants to make it happen is going to have the support and the ability to make it happen. And, um, that goes back to this idea of trying to help people see themselves in our story and see, see themselves not only in our history, but also in our future. And I think if we can help to bridge those gaps and provide the resources that people need, then we're going to be, um, we're going to be in a community that is growing, that has a healthy respect for its history and its historic properties, but also looks at the future in a very positive light.

Hal Gorby:
Probably the biggest long-term project that reflects these goals of organizations like Wheeling heritage is in trying to redevelop Henry Schmulbach's physical legacy he left on downtown Wheeling skyline, the former Wheeling Pittsburgh steel building. We started the podcast recording from its 12th floor at a moment when Henry's tallest monument is being rehabbed.

Jake Daugherty:
He also makes these very physical investments in our downtown, um, both in his home on chaplain row also, you know, primarily in the Schmulbach building on market street, you know, Wheeling's and West Virginia's first skyscraper kind of takes this, this fortune and makes sure that everybody knows it, right.

Jake Daugherty:
Um, but you know, that building really does symbolize this sense of wealth that could and was found in Wheeling, uh, in the early 1900s. And, you know, I think we look at that over time and we see this building that was built by a local brewer. It becomes the home of Wheeling's largest industry for a long time - steel. And then in the 1990s, early 2000s, we really see this building vacant, just dwindling in the number of employers in it, and then vacant. Those transitions over time really do speak to what was happening in Wheeling. And now today we're looking at the Schmulbach building in, you know, the early phases of redevelopment as this housing development. And I, I think that you can use the Schmulbach building to really symbolize what has happened in Wheeling's economy over the past 120 years.

Hal Gorby:
Wheeling has been a resilient city for 250 years, but never more so than in the last 40 years. With the decline of industry and loss of population, the city government has worked to preserve the city's heritage while also seeking to attract new types of businesses. I talked about these efforts with Wheeling's current mayor Glenn Elliott from his office looking out along market street.

Glenn Elliott:
Today, we gather in the professional building. Um, it's not always been the professional building. It was originally the Citibank building of Wheeling. It was built in 1892, um, at the time. And we'll talk about the Milwaukee building later, but at the time this building was built, it was the tallest in the city of Wheeling. It may have even been the tallest in the state. Um, I'm trying to confirm that, but I'm not sure. Um, it was built as a bank building. Um, the bank ultimately got merged into what became dollar savings and trust, which then became Wheeling dollar, which then became WesBanco. This building was owned by different business interests for many years, bought by a Dr. NK Joseph in 1947. Uh, he put his eye exam practice here on the, on the fourth floor. And the rest of it was just rented out as offices and all that. And it was called the professional building, uh, from at least 1947 until today. Um, in 1982, it went from Dr.
NK Joseph to his son, Dr. Robert Joseph, and I bought it from Dr. Robert Joseph in 2013.

Hal Gorby:
That's a beautiful building. And as we've seen in our, uh, podcast here, we not, not a stone's throw away from Henry Schmulbach's slightly taller building. Yeah. Yes.

Glenn Elliott:
It replaced this one as the tallest building in the city in 1905 or six, whenever it was done. Hal Gorby:
For Mayor Elliott, he sees the benefit in historic preservation in revitalizing downtown Wheeling.

Glenn Elliott:
Historic preservation for me is what really brought me into city politics. I bought this building in 2013 as a historic preservation project. I started getting involved in a lot of things on that topic really started. I started tenants, city council meetings and paying attention. And you realize that, you know, uh, during the last, you know, 30 years, Wheeling's had some rough economic times, we've been through an economic stagnation as I would call it. We've lost a lot of jobs. We've lost population. Uh, but what has really kept our city going, especially our downtown corridor is historic preservation. You look at the Wheeling stamping building. You look at the Maxwell center, you look at the Wagner building, you look at the Capitol theater, uh, you look at stone and Thomas, all these projects, you know, uh, happened despite the fact that the city was losing population and losing jobs, but they kept the downtown core alive.

Glenn Elliott:
Um, and you know, a lot of attention was given a couple years ago, the health plan opened a brand-new building in downtown Wheeling. And that was a great, absolutely great positive development. Uh, but I don't think that happens without all those historic preservation projects actually kind of setting the stage for it. Um, and now it's on us, you know, to, we still have a wonderful stock of architecture in our downtown, which deserves to be saved, which can be saved. It's on us at the city level. I'd figure out ways to get those buildings saved. Sure.

Hal Gorby:
And if I, I correct me if I'm wrong, I think I've heard several times that sort of building preservationists that look at the sort of, uh, quality of structures in the city's limits that we have the highest percentage of Victorian era structures of this size. Right?

Glenn Elliott:
If you look at all the bill, I don't know the exact dates of beginning and ending of the Victorian era, but if you look at the buildings in Wheeling, especially our downtown and our center market area, almost all of the great buildings we still have standing were built between 1880 and 1930. And of course, that's when the great depression happened. And then, you know, I, the capitol theater was probably the last great building built during that era of great construction in the city, but a lot of buildings were built then, um, and we have a great stock left. I would argue there's no city of 27,000 population or fewer that has the same stock of historic architecture that we do have. Um, I think we would be absolutely crazy and irresponsible not to try to save what we can. These buildings are non-renewable resources. I say that all the time, and you know, one of the projects we've been working on very, uh, much of the last year and a half of a time here in the city is the Schmulbach building.

Glenn Elliott:
Uh, which of course it was most recently known as a Wheeling Pittsburgh steel building built in 1907. That's still our only skyscraper really for all intents and purposes in the city. It is the tallest building in the city, was the tallest building in the state for many years, um, 150,000 square feet. There's just nothing like it. And I don't know if you've had a chance to go through, I'm sure you have gone through this. It is a wonderful building. It's perfectly designed, uh, you know, to let light inside because each floor is shaped like an uppercase H. So, each floor has eight corners on it. Uh, so we're working with a developer out of
Canton who wants to put a market rate housing sort of apartments on each of those floors and make it really like the showcase, uh, downtown living center. Um, and if that can happen, to me, it really would be a big shot in the arm for a downtown economy. Cause you'd be putting up somewhere between 120, 125 units, full of people who have disposable income in the economy and the commerce, uh, you know, in the first-floor foot traffic, all the things that, you know, people talk about downtown, what it needs, saving that building would be a great thing from historic preservation perspective, but it'd be a wonderful thing from an economic development perspective.

Hal Gorby:
Absolutely. And I never realized that when we were in the building that each floor is shaped like an H I wonder why it's shaped like an H.

Glenn Elliott:
You know, uh, one can surmise a possible reason. Of course, the doorknobs have the S on them as well and we can guess.

Hal Gorby:
Yes. While we desire to preserve every element of our past, that is not always feasible. Not every historic property can be saved and reused. Sometimes nostalgia can take hold of all of us. Mayor Elliott and I discussed this problem and how we could learn from how Wheeling transitioned during Henry Schmulbach's time.

Glenn Elliott:
No, I think that's wonderful to have those great images of the past and those great memories. But I also think at sometimes it can become a little bit of a, a hindrance, because I think if you're thinking of yourself as a city that used to be something better than you are now, it's psychologically not exactly. It's hard to get excited about the city, if you're, if its best days were in 1950. And I tell people all the time, um, you know, like when Henry Schmulbach was building buildings, he wasn't thinking back to the 1850s, 1860s, he was thinking ahead. I said, we have to capture that same sense of entrepreneurial spirit and look to the future and not get sometimes caught up in the fact that yes, Wheeling, a word is right now, our downtown is not, you know, where it was in its heyday. It's never going to be the same thing that it was. We'll never have a big retail mecca downtown again, like we did but the possibilities are really still endless for what we can have downtown. We can have a, really, a lot of people living downtown, a lot of shops and entertainment. It can be the destination for the entire upper Ohio valley like it was for much of the mid 20th century. It can be that again. Um, but we have to sort of lose this notion of downtown as something that used to be something else and start thinking of downtown of what it can be going forward.

Hal Gorby:
Yeah. And I like your point about, you know, when Henry Schmulbach was sort of building buildings and being the state's leading brewer, I mean, that, that development that he is leading is coming on the tail end of the city, losing two of the biggest things it was known for in the mid-twenties, in the mid 19th century cut nail production and losing the state capital. And so, at that time, people were able to find some way to move Wheeling.

Glenn Elliott:
Yeah. If you read the newspapers, as I'm sure you have from that era, like you don't hear much self-pity in the papers, there's not much, oh, woe is us. There is a sense of optimism. There's an article. Uh, you know, because this building we're in was built in 1891, 1892, you know, I, I just so happened to read a lot of newspaper stories from that era. And there's an article, I think it's from the 1891 issue of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. It talks about a great building boom in the, in the city of Wheeling that year. And it lists all the buildings being built in just that one year, a lot of those buildings are still standing, you know, um, you know, I long for the days where we have those types of stories again, and that type of excitement about the sense of possibility. Within a six-month period, I remember discussion about, oh, there's a need for a bridge from, I think it was the bridge, actually the end of a bridge, there was a need for the bridge to be built and that it was built. Like there was no sense of, well, we can't do this. It was just done. It seems like, uh, too much today. We about things for so many years, all we really need to do this, but we just can't get the funding to get it done. And I long for that sense of just being able to get things done or you see it, I recognize the challenge and you go out and do it.

Hal Gorby:
Mayor Elliott and I talked about the need to find creative ways to use our historic structures. What does Henry Schmulbach's life tell us about economic partnerships, the role of small, diversified business growth. These questions have motivated this podcast as they have motivated Jake Daugherty as well. As we discussed together, reflecting on his time with Wheeling heritage, Jake mentioned a number of lessons we can take from Henry's time and the era's business competition.

Jake Daugherty:
You know, some other things that I think are really interesting when I think about business activity in the past is this idea of reinvestment by industrial leaders at the time into other industrial leaders and also their willingness to invest in the community. And I, I think that that can be a guiding light for us into the future in, in thinking about our community as a community with businesses that are growing and how do we help to enable that over and over and over again? How do we look at businesses, not as competition, but as contemporaries who can help bring more and more people here, because that's what we most need is for more people to live and to spend time in our community? And we do that through, through abundance. We do that by having enough or more than enough. And I think that that's something that, that, you know, Henry Schmulbach and his contemporaries saw, you know, they had friendly rivalries. We talked about this with Anton Reymann a little bit where like, they were definitely rivals from a business and personal perspective. I think competitive or competition has a Latin root, um, that means to strive together. And I, that's a fascinating root for the word competitive because I, I really do think that today we look at it through this idea of, you know, it's, it's a zero-sum game. I win, or I lose against you. And in reality, that is like, this is how we grow.

Hal Gorby:
Men like Schmulbach and Anton Reymann were on multiple corporate boards, civic organizations, and involved with banks. Businesses in town then were connected in a series of reciprocal relationships.
Their investments in brewing were connected to railroad and transportation and natural resources like sand and natural gas. Increased production also meant more glass bottles and wooden crates, all of which meant more industry for Wheeling. A city like this succeeded on the strength of others in a symbiotic relationship.

*music*
Hal Gorby:
Historians often don't engage in counterfactuals asking what if a historical event, person, or place had been shaped differently, but they can be very, very helpful in trying to put a person's life in a deeper perspective. Jake Daugherty posed one to me.

Jake Daugherty:
What does Wheeling look like if Henry Schmulbach lives longer? And if West Virginia doesn't pass prohibition prior to the United States, does that legacy go on? What other marks does he leave? Both, both in physical structures potentially, but also culturally, as a German at the time that we're going into world war one and world war II thereafter, what does it look like if one of, if not the most prominent businessman at the time is very German in a very German city?

Hal Gorby:
Does he become the center of scorn and ridicule because he is the most prominent or one of the most prominent Germans in the city. It's kind of in a way nice for his legacy that he doesn't have to go through that to a certain. He can almost leave Wheeling's history at exactly the right moment. It's, it's sort of poetic justice in a sports metaphor that he's retired, uh, just before we see him in a different, a completely different and more negative light, not because of his own doing, but just because of time and circumstance changing the game's rules are going to change very quickly on him.

Jake Daugherty:
Yeah. The, the alternative to that is, you know, if prohibition isn't passed in West Virginia, does brewing continue, does it continue to employ a significant number of Germans throughout the industry and kind of keep that German city? Because I find it interesting today that we don't in Wheeling think of Wheeling as a German place. You know, it's sort of been washed from our life a little bit. You know, those, the German names are not as vocal. They're not seen as much as they were before the heritage itself isn't celebrated as thoroughly as some others, even. You know, it's, it's interesting to see that transition occurred here in Wheeling.

Hal Gorby:
It's been quite a journey gazing on Wheeling's history through the life and times of Henry Schmulbach. His life is a poetic representation of the values and lived experiences that made this city what it was and remains today. He was a business owner, an innovator, a major corporate and political figure and moving the city forward. He was an immigrant who loved his German culture and heritage. He was also someone who loved the rougher side of life, gambling, horse racing, and saloons. His is a story of Wheeling's rise and its rebirth. Throughout the podcast, it's been a pleasure to speak with so many local leaders in making Wheeling a friendly place to live and work today. I asked each to share what Henry's story meant to them. In closing out the series, I can think of no better way to end than to share some of their thoughts.

Glenn Elliott:
That's sort of a man with a plan who was a doer, like, you know, you look at what he did and you wonder, did the man ever sleep? You know, he, I mean he built things. He built buildings, he built bridges, he built parks. I mean he built breweries, you know, Wheeling is still, uh, full of a lot of things that he built. I guess the legacy is, you know, thinking of a time when really oh, no dream was too big, you know, Henry
Schmulbach sort of embodied that, you know, uh, if you had a dream like, in Wheeling in that time period, you know, if you set your mind to it, you could do it.

Jeanne Finstein:
We know for instance, that Henry Schmulbach was a gambler and a drinker and, and apparently liked to womanize and, and didn't sound like he was a very nice guy to be around. On the other hand, Anton Reymann, he's actually in the Wheeling hall of fame, but not in the area of business and industry, but in the, in the category of philanthropy. Is Schmulbach in the hall of fame? He is not in the hall of fame. Um, something to consider.

Ryan Stanton:
Nonetheless his legacy I think was about lasting and also creating something, uh, for the future residents of Wheeling long after he's gone. He wanted something to be here, uh, for people to enjoy like his spirit with Mozart park and creating that. Um, I think that was one of his intentions. So, you know, he still lives on today, even though his brewery is gone, it's not producing beer. His logo is still on that building. It's still being preserved today. So, I feel that, you know, part of it is as our job is to recognize what someone like a Henry Schmulbach or an Anton Reymann has done for the city of Wheeling and how they wanted, uh, to last forever and to make sure that we kind of carry on, uh, their, uh, intentions and, and keep alive that entrepreneurial spirit.

Hal Gorby:
Thanks for joining me in this journey to understand Wheeling's past and present through the eyes of one of its most colorful citizens. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. This has been Henry the life and legacy of Wheeling's most notorious brewer. This episode was written, researched and narrated by me, William Hal Gorby. We had help in producing this episode from Wheeling heritage. Editing done by Alex Weld. Production, music and recording done by Dillon Richardson and Johnathon Porter. Audio interviews were done with Kevin Ayers, Jake Daugherty, Glenn Elliott, Jeanne Finstein, and Ryan Stanton. This podcast is a production of Wheeling heritage media.

Kevin Ayers:
Provided there ever is another prohibition, I always say breweries are like cemeteries. Everybody's just dying to get in. They don't go away. They're never going away. Yeah.